General Motors has agreed to pay $220 million in a settlement with 35 US states and the District of Columbia. The case concerned the Smart Driver program: the car collected information about trips and driving habits, and the data went to intermediaries and then to insurers. Some car owners stated that they did not understand what transfer of information they had agreed to; For some people, this could affect insurance rates. GM ended the program in 2024, but claims about data already collected remain.
The new agreement requires clear driver consent before location and driving behavior data can be collected and shared. A separate check of the privacy policy by an external party is provided. Previously, GM and the OnStar service have already entered into an agreement with the US Federal Trade Commission, which limits the transfer of such information to third parties. Therefore, the current decision is not the first ban, but adds financial consequences and independent enforcement control. For the owner of a connected car, this is an important example of how telematics can influence not only navigation and service, but also the risk assessment of the insurance company. Even a free feature in the app requires careful reading of the data sharing terms. The agreement itself does not prove that each driver suffered the same damage, and does not mean a complete ban on any anonymized data. Its meaning is agreement, transparency and verifiability of the manufacturer's promises.